Sports Re-Runs.

The Schwab is a big Pitt fan. He enjoys a good Big East basketball matchup. On Saturday, he sat on the edge of the couch, on pins and needles, while watching Pitt ensure a narrow victory over Syracuse. He was excited by the win, and blathered on and on about March Madness and the Tournament. This Reluctant fan isn’t so much a fan of basketball, but as a good wife, she listened to his analysis.
So, on Sunday, I was very perplexed to find him again transfixed in front of the t.v., watching, you guessed it, the Pitt/Syracuse match-up. The very SAME game he enjoyed the day before. When asked why, why, why did he have to watch it AGAIN, the answer was simple: To focus his attention on what the defense did during the second half. Because he didn’t notice the day before? I mean, there’s only a handful of dudes on the court for both teams at any given time. But, moving on.
All of this brings me to this head-scratcher: Why do real sports aficionados watch the same game over and over again, when, and here’s the kicker: they already know who won? I mean, isn’t the point of sports the excitement of the moment? The nail-biter endings? The will it go in the basket/will he throw a hail mary/will he make a hole in one moments that make a game so exciting?
Why watch again? The fun is gone, the wind knocked out of the sails….the winner has already been decided. What’s the point?!
The Schwab, in what I feel must be membership in a rather large following of sports fans, sees the point. He watches basketball games from the 80’s when dudes wore tighty-short ensembles, and NFL Championship game clips and Super Bowls and golf tournaments and Big East basketball rebroadcasts. And, I suspect, he enjoys them almost as much the second time around.
I still don’t get it. But I’m thinking it must just be me.